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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for atrocities due to her crackdown on student-led protests which led to her removal from power.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of allowing lethal force to be used against demonstrators, 1,400 of whom were killed during the unrest last year.

Hasina was tried without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being responsible for hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected every accusation, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The decision signifies a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and injured had demanded strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was proud of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to confront those accusing me in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under increased safeguards before the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors organizing a demonstration and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The city has seen a recent spike in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, area law enforcement officer the authorities' representative told press agencies.

The student-led uprising during 2024 began with demands to abolish state employment quotas but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

United Nations rights examiners stated in a document in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could constitute "crimes against humanity".

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of others, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls confirmed by external reviews in previous months indicated she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the legal process.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to media representatives they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and abused their power".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their hearts."

After her departure, an temporary leadership headed by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Awami League, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned during the past month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the vote.

The judgment creates a international dilemma for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but to date India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; for that reason I am disappointed," he stated further.

Last week, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her former home minister and police chief.

While the sentence grants partial finality to kin of victims in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the Awami League has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to media outlets. "The leader and her faction has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a majority of people in this state."

The advocate continued that the penalty was not resolution for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with multiple individuals who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, as a result of the harsh measures. They are incapable of excusing her."

David Bergman, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for Awami League to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a disassociation with the former leader and the former hierarchy," he expressed.